Mak Yong The Malay Traditional Theatre in Indonesia

Pudentia MPSS1

Mak Yong consists of a ritual and an entertainment component and

combines dialogue,

dance, singing, music, and stories in its performances. A

performance is invariably preceded

by an opening and closing ritual. Mak Yong is a traditional oral

performing art form, which

means that performers and the public together gather in the same

place and at the same time

during a performance. The performers consist of musicians (some

of whom also perform in

dramatic roles), players who enact the story and engage in

dialogue, singing, and dancing,

and a choir-like group of performers who sit on the ground and

join in the singing. The

musical instruments consist of two string violins (rebab), a

flute (serunai), a lead drum

1 Chairman, Oral Traditions Association, Indonesia and docent in Univeristiy of Indoneisa

(gendang pengibu), accompanying drums (gendang penganak), a lead

tambourine (gedombak

pengibu), actually a kind of small drum closed by a bide on one

side only), an accompanying

tambourine (gedombak penganak), a gong, various small gongs

(kenong, small gong made of

bronze and played by hitting it with a stick). Sometimes a kecrek

or a bamboo instrument

made of a split bamboo of about 45 cm in length and 6 cm in width

is added. Illustration 1

shows the following instruments: gedombak, gendang, gong, and

kenong.

During the play some characters wear masks, but not everyone.

Especially men who perform

the roles of females wear masks but also ogres and other

supernatural beings are portrayed by

men who wear masks.

Up to the present, experts have been in disagreement over the

exact meaning of the

expression „Mak Yong.. However, they do agree that Europeans

first heard of its existence in

Thailand (then Siam) in Nara Yala, Patani (Narathiwat) in the

seventeenth century and that it

had spread to Kelantan (Malaysia) around two hundred years ago.

However, in Malaysia no

masks were used as in the place of origin (Sheppard 1972: 58,

134; Suki 1978: 2; Ghulam-

Sarwar 1982: 108; Sastrosuwondho 1985: 16). Mak Yong was brought

to Kelantan for the

first time as a present from Patani for a marriage between the

two Sultanates of Patani and

Kelantan (see Ghulam-Sarwar 1982).

Mak Yong in Indonesia can be found in the islands of Riau (Bintan

and Batam), North

Sumatera (in areas of Serdang, Medan) and Western Kalimantan

(Sambas). The Sambas Mak

Yong is similar in name but what is meant by Mak Yong there is

actually a social dance

named “joget” and has the characteristics of “ronggeng”, a dance

where the dancers (usually

female) can invite male guests to dance with them. Usually

besides dancing the men give

gratuities or payment which is known as “saweran” to the dancers.

That is why the Mak

Yong in Sambas is considered in a negative light. The Medan Mak

Yong is assumed to have

existed since the early 19th century when the Sultan of Kedah

gave as a gift to the Sultan

Serdang musical instruments a sets, properties, and costumes for

a Mak Yong performance

complete with the troupe of actors. In the next development fewer

players could continue

with the tradition and now Mak Yong in Medan tends more to drama

bangsawan or theater

form. It is because of this reason. Mak Yong in these areas will

not be addressed in this

paper.

Although Mak Yong is still found in Batam and Bintan, its

existence may be said to be

„kerakap tumbuh di batu. in other words, „it still lives but is

almost no longer there., or „it is

said no longer to exist but is still around.. In the words of Mak

Yong players themselves

„hidup segan, mati tak mau’, or „reluctant to live, unwilling to

die..

Around one hundred years ago, Mak Yong was brought from Kelantan

to the Riau Islands

through Tanjung Kurau (present-day Singapore) by Mak Ungu and his

group. To the present

day, Mak Ungu is recognized as the pioneer of Riau Mak Yong.

Interestingly, the Mak Yong

that may now be encountered in Riau and which is said to

originate from Kelantan uses

masks as is the case in Patani but not in Kelantan itself. Also

interesting is that although the

titles of the stories that are performed in Patani, Kelantan, and

in Riau are the same, the way

they are performed differs in each region. The repertoire used is

different in each region as

well, but this is another subject and below I will no longer

refer to Patani Mak Yong and to

Kelantan Mak Yong only in connection with our discussion of Mak

Yong as found in Riau.

Riau Mak Yong, as stated above, is still found in Batam (Pulau

Panjang) and in Bintan (Keke

and Pulau Mantang Arang). Batam Mak Yong is no longer complete

and it is very difficult to

organize a performance today by lack of players for specific

roles and because of the

incomplete set of musical instruments they have at their

disposal. The repertoire is moreover

also limited. There is no longer any Mak Yong figure in this

group who is able to relate all

the Mak Yong stories there once were, because, in contrast to

Bintan, the players here are the

third generation of performers and the collective memory needed

for remembering the stories

has faded. The group also does not have any documentation of

previous performances. A

positive point is that many youngsters, even young children join

the group during

performances. Unfortunately, because of the limited repertoire

and the few occasions they

have to witness performances, the training of these young players

is insufficient. Because of

these conditions, the rest of this article will no longer refer

to this group.

The two Mak Yong groups in Bintan originate from the same source

because Tuk Atan and

Pak Khalid both inherited it from Mak Ungu whom I mentioned

above. Pak Khalid is from

the second generation and trains the Mantang Arang Mak Yong group

while his first cousin,

Tuk Atan, trained the Keke Mak Yong group until his passing in

2006, when his son, Satar,

took over as its leader assisted by his brother, Mohtar.

Unfortunately, Mohtar is more

interested in his job as a fisherman rather than being actively

engaged in Mak Yong. Because

of this, Satar often encounters problems because he has to play

both instruments more

important in Mak Yong, the gedombak and the gendang. When his

brother is not available, he

only features the lead and the accompanying gendang and is forced

not to play the gedombak.

The leading role, Raja/Cik Wang and the Queen (permaisuri) are no

longer performed by

players of the second or third generation, but by young people

from the fourth generation, the

direct or indirect grandchildren or even the nephews and nieces

of Mak Wet, the primadonna

of the second generation.

Although utmost important, the rebab is nowadays no longer played

because Tuk Atan has

passed away. A new rebab player has just started his training by

using old recordings of Mak

Yong performances. After Pak Senen passed away, the serunai is

also no longer used during

performances. Even though both musical instruments are no longer

used, Mak Yong

performances may still be witnessed because there is still a

complete group of performers and

other supporting roles in Bintan. After Tuk Atan.s death, the

only player of the second

generation at present still alive is Pak Khalid who now prefers

to stay in Mantang Arang to

teach Mak Yong. He is actually an actor but he also teaches music

and song.

Pak Khalid is joined by Tuk Atan and they used to teach

alternatively although they often

quarreled because of differences of opinion. Tuk Atan is the

oldes Riau Mak Yong figure and

he likes to stay very close to the tradition he inherited from

his predecessors while Pak Khalid

is the oldest figure of the Mantang Arang Mak Yong group and he

is very adaptable. Tuk

Atan often reminds the members of the group, including Pak

Khalid, of what is and what is

not allowed in Mak Yong performances, for instance, in the case

of costume. Tuk Atan hangs

on to the rule that only the King and the Queen/Princess may wear

kain songket (woven

fabric interwoven with gold or silver ornamentation) during

official occasions. Also, only the

Kind/Cik Wang may wear a kris. This is not the case with Pak

Khalid. When the organizers

think that songket costumes and krisses are nice, although not

worn at the proper occasion,

Pak Khalid has no objections.

As is the case in Kelantan, Riau Mak Yong thrived under the

protection of the Riau Lingga

Sultanate. When the Dutch and the English signed the London

Treaty in 1824, the Malay

region was divided and fell under two different rules:

Semenanjung and Singapore under

British and Melayu, subsequently known as Riau, under Dutch rule.

The first Sultan to be

appointed by the Dutch in Riau was Sultan Abdul Rahman Muadzam

Syah. In 1911, when

the then Sultan persisted in his opposition to the Dutch, the

Dutch abolished the Sultanate.

During this time Bintan Mak Yong still thrived, especially

because of the inter-insular (for

the time read: international) trade which thrived as well. A

saying often heard among Mak

Yong players when I interviewed them in the 1990s was „kami bisa

hidup dari ber-Mak Yong

justru waktu ringgit dan dolar [dolar Singapura, present author]

masih ada; kami tidak main

hanya pada hari Jumat dan di bulan Puasa.. (We could live from

performing Mak Yong

especially when the ringgit and the Singapore dollar were still

in use and we did not only

perform on Friday or during the fasting month). In the memory of

the population, Mantang

Arang used to be a thriving trading region. During the Riau

Lingga Sultanate, Mantang Arang

was the domicile of the High-court Judge, and Penyengat was the

residence of the Young

King (Raja Muda).

Little by little with the change in political climate (from the

old order, “Orde Lama”, period

to the strength of the communists in the 60s to the new order,

“Orde Baru”) Mak Yong

started to wearken. Pak Atan moved from Mantang Arang to Kampung

Keke, Kijang, east

Bintan because of economic reasons. He obtained a job in Kijang

until leaving Mantang

Arang. Pak Atan taught Mak Yong in Kijang until passing away. His

legacy was his musical

skills inherited by his sons Mohtar and Satar. Pak Atan also left

his musical instruments and

other Mak Yong equipment from Mak Ungu which to this day is still

used by this Kijang

troupe. Unfortunately, these brothers do not see eye to eye or

compatible when performing

together. Satar is the one travelling with us to Bangkok. Mohtar

would not join us because of

feeling incompatible performing with his brother as I mentioned

above. He has started his

own sanggar or troupe.

Mak Yong was in its heyday considered a palace art (Achmad 1995:

7). Experts on Mak

Yong from Kelantan and Patani came to the same conclusion. It may

indeed be the case that

Riau Mak Yong thrived in the Kingdom of Riau Lingga after the

London Treaty of 1824 was

put into force. However, Riau Mak Yong as studied today is no

longer as exclusive

performance for the palace or the aristocracy and directed at

certain people only, but has

become a form of entertainment for society in general (Pudentia

1992: 118). After it had

changed in this way, it seems that Mak Yong no longer seems to

have the same appeal as

other popular art forms like dangdut, solo organ, and television.

On the other hand, at the

moment, Mak Yong does attract civil servants as related above in

order to position

themselves as cultured figures with a taste for high culture. For

this kind of interest, it is

indeed interesting to organize a Mak Yong performance and other

popular performing art

forms.

Mak Yong will always require a special program in order to manage

it. Art traditions like the Mak Yong stem from the oral world and

without considerable support will be unable to

compete with other kinds of popular culture and art forms from

the phrase of secondary

orality (to borrow Ong.s term [1982]). In order to ensure that

Mak Yong performances

remain part of actual life in insular Riau Malay, various

programs have been executed. The

Oral Traditions Association, as one of the foundations that cares

for Mak Yong, has executed

an intensive revitalization program and with the help from the

Ford Foundation has provided

extensive support to the Mak Yong society. The reason for this

very modest revitalization

was that society still needs Mak Yong as a symbol of its

identity. Based on my five-year long

research, I learned how clearly Mak Yong has encouraged the Keke

and Mantang Arang

groups to re-perform it and to discuss it as part of their daily

life. They have various

traditional art forms, but Mak Yong is always mentioned as

prestigious and as having added

value.

Revitalisation was executed in three consecutive phases:

introduction, strengthening, and

development.2 With generous support from the Ford Foundation, all

three phases were

concluded successfully. At the start of the reviatlisation, its

limitations and the patterns to

follow had not yet been set. Adopting a humanistic approach using

the most natural way of

support possible devoid of any outside pressure, the community

was assisted to meet its own

expectations regarding Mak Yong. Pak Khalid, for instance, asked

for the implementation of

a training program for the children in Keke to help realize his

expectation that Mak Yong

would survive into the next generation. Performers such as Pak

Dolmat (Inang Pengasuh) and

Pak Gani (a musician) had very modest desires. They simply wanted

to continue to perform

Mak Yong as long as there was money for their families when they

performed it. Young

performers such as Rodiah.s only fear was that her work in a

factory in Batam might be

jeopardised if she often performed Mak Yong. These kinds of

specific technical matters can

constitute a serious hindrance in the revival of Mak Yong if no

support is provided to settle

these issues. Therefore, during the first phase, introductions

were provided not only for the

performers and their supporters, but also to civil servants,

society figures, and entrepreneurs.

In the initial stage, when they had become aware that Mak Yong

was part of their identity,

some people were at first pessimistic. One of the reasons was

that the Mak Yong performers

form a marginal community in insular Riau Malay society. They are

a community of small

fishermen, plantation workers, and factory labourers. Only Tuk

Atan stood out for his

supernatural capabilities that were well-known in the Bintan

region. It was initially difficult

to convince the people that their art tradition was valuable. It

only managed to attract

attention, as has been described above, after the efforts of

researchers of prestigious

government institutions (LIPI and University of Indonesia)

succeeded, the first performance

in Mantang Arang had proven a success, and after the second

performance in Jakarta during

an international rather than national event, and even earlier

when foreigners had started to

look for Mak Yong. Intensive contacts were continued while the

continuity of the

performances was guaranteed by lending support to people who

wanted to invite Mak Yong

players to perform during their festivities or by offering Mak

Yong performances to relevant

groups in the Bintan region.

The second stage was executed after a review had been made of the

hindrances Mak Yong

performers encountered and which had a great impact on their

performances. Because of their

personal situation and their economic conditions, they were

easily provoked by people who

wanted to use Mak Yong for their own interests. The following

happened, for instance, just

before the group was to perform in Jakarta. After two months of

training, Pak Khalid excused

himself at the very last moment before departure to Jakarta. The

issue was actually rather

simple but seriously burdened Pak Khalid. He could not deal with

the gossip and the

complaints from his village head because one of the players, who

happened to be a close

relative of the village head, was excluded from joining the group

to Jakarta whereas the

village head had often assisted Pak Khalid during the training.

This shocked the performers.

Pak Khalid was a trusted person and very important in the

performance. He played the

gendang together with Tuk Atan who played the gedombak. Although

the issue was settled,

tensions remained among the Keke and Mantang Arang groups. The

tension remained for a

long time to come although efforts were made to unify them in one

performance. Even after

Tuk Atan passed away three years ago, the tension among his group

remained.

2 The revitalisation did not always occur in this sequence. It

happened that also elements of

the second phase found their way in the first phase and so on.

What is meant here are the

main activities that gave their name to the focus of each phase.

Tensions between the Keke and Mantang Arang groups mounted.

Initially, there were only

tensions between Tuk Atan and Pak Khalid but after a while there

were also tensions among

the members of both groups. Thus, efforts to combine them in

joined performances were

halted. Both groups actually did have their own merits. The

Mantang Arang group was strong

in the stories as they were made by Pak Khalid and strong in the

characters of Awang

Pengasuh, Inang Pengasuh, and the Princess. The Keke group was

strong in music, singing,

and the figure of Cik Wang. However, because nobody was able to

pacify them, including the

Regent himself who had asked for a joined performance to enhance

Kepri.s prestige by

staging a Mak Yong performance to give a display of all its

excellent qualities, effort for

joined performances were discontinued. Formally, nothing seemed

to be wrong. Tuk Atan

and Pak Khalid even praised and supported each other but during

rehearsals and

performances it became apparent that combining them both was

impossible.

The last stage of development was executed by providing the Mak

Yong groups with three

different repertoirs, one for research, one for performances

during cultural events, and one for

performances for tourists in hotels or during other, open

occasions. The performers were

divided into two classes, class one and two. A film documentary

was made to record all the

movements and the dialogues of the Riau Mak Yong. The Bintan

Resort in Lagoi had offered

the Mak Yong a three-month contract to perform. It was not

executed because the group was

unable to offer a tourist repertoire to be performed by a smaller

group. If the honorarium they

would receive would be used proportionately and the group would

remain large, the amount

each player would receive would be insufficient. This remains a

challenge that still has to be

met. Although there are risks, entering Mak Yong into the tourist

industry is unavoidable if

Mak Yong is to survive and a special strategy has to be devised

to ensure that Mak Yong can

prepare itself.

The tensions between Tuk Atan and Pak Khalid were interesting to

witness. They actually

boiled down to the tension between the oral world as represented

by Tuk Atan and the literate

world as represented by Pak Khalid. In general, the players

preferred to be trained by Pak

Khalid because he was more clear and consistent than Tuk Atan

because he was hard to

follow and each time wanted something else. Pak Khalid was indeed

a gifted storyteller and

he often wrote stories and dialogues, whereas Tuk Atan was a

gifted musician who often

made new musical arrangements. This made it hard for those who

had just started to play the

musical instruments used in Mak Yong. Pak Khalid also was

easygoing and accepted requests

from outside, for instance in matters concerning costumes and

props as mentioned above,

which Tuk Atan could not or only with great difficulty accept.

We have discussed the importance of revitalisation for the

survival of the Mak Yong and we

have been faced by choices as to in which domain to put this art

tradition. If it is to remain an

oral tradition, it is almost impossible that new performers, who

nowadays usually rely on

written study materials, will be able to make their own new

creations. In order to ensure its

continuation, there is a strong need for the presence of a

traditional art maestro.

In the Mak Yong case, after Pak Khalid and Tuk Atan.s generation

will be gone, a case of

true orality will be gone as well. The people who succeeded them

are performers who will

have to learn by imitation and only after that will they be able

to make their own creations.

However, since they have little opportunity to perform, and

because they have not yet been

trained to play with a wide range of different characters because

of the limited number of

performances, the creative process also encounters problems.

It is interesting to attach meaning to the dynamics that arise

between the performing world,

the „stage. world, and the world outside (supporters, audiences,

researchers, owners of

traditions, authorities, and others) in a paradigm that agrees

that oral traditions are not merely

works of art or performances, but also socio-cultural events that

involve many intertwined

issues. The way we look at traditions, including oral traditions,

influences the way we

manage them in order to ensure that they endure, for instance in

the way Evans (2001)

suggested. He showed that there is an interconnection between

cultural sources, cultural

policies, and the analysis of each of these factors in order to

find the right kind of

management planning. In order to decide on the right planning in

connection with oral

tradition we need to consider the following three factors:

representation/expression,

resistance, and flexibility.

References

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